


Like Real People Do

by twinfinite



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga
Genre: Gen, Hawkeye is my fav, Hurt/Comfort, Pre-Series, Sickfic, These boys have a criminal lack of adult supervision
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-21
Updated: 2018-06-06
Packaged: 2018-11-03 03:47:46
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 9,536
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10959000
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/twinfinite/pseuds/twinfinite
Summary: An adventure from the space between the failed human transmutation and the start of the series.In which Edward is human, Alphonse isn't exactly, and there continues to be crime in Amestris regardless.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Ijustwannaread](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ijustwannaread/gifts).



There were many qualities that Alphonse Elric admired in his brother, and his strong will was definitely one of them. From surviving Izumi Curtis’s brutal training to powering through automail rehabilitation in record time, it could easily seem like the boy simply couldn’t fail to meet a challenge if he had the proper motivation.

When Alphonse had been younger, it was easy to put his older brother on a pedestal and see him as infallible. Thus, when Edward had brazenly declared that he would get through automail surgery in just a year, Alphonse hadn’t exactly questioned it. His brother could do anything he wanted to, after all!

However, after the fifth time Edward reopened his automail port wounds in the space of a month, Alphonse was forced to come to the sad realization that his brother wasn’t infallible at all; he was just a pigheaded idiot. He either never knew when to throw in the towel or he knew and couldn’t be bothered to care. 

When Alphonse was still new to being a disembodied soul affixed to a suit of armor, his memories of human limitations were still fresh in his mind, and he could more properly keep an eye on Edward when he was starting to get ridiculous. Sadly, after four years of his steel body, Alphonse could feel his ability to recall exhaustion and pain fading slightly. In that time, Edward had somehow found a way to become increasingly incapable of slowing down, particularly when they were hot on the trail towards finding the Philosopher's Stone. 

Alphonse wanted his body back more than anything, but sometimes a lead would come at the most inconvenient time. This was one of those times.

Almost three months had passed since Edward and Alphonse had come across a truly substantial lead, which somehow always ended up meaning that the two would go to fairly desperate lengths to curb their restless energy, even if that meant taking assignments from Colonel Mustang that had little to no chance of being helpful but a high chance of excitement, learning, and/or combat. 

Alphonse refused to take any of the blame for the fact that their most recent visit to the West City had resulted in the firing a State Alchemist, their participation as witnesses in a lengthy military hearing, and a rather embarrassing amount of property damage. Well, he couldn’t take all the blame at least. Admittedly, the Elric brothers were a pretty deadly combination when if they got too bored. When Colonel Mustang called for them a week later announcing that he had found a possible lead for them, Alphonse was completely certain that it was less of an act of kindness on his part than pure damage control. Normally he would have been entirely thankful for a break from their dry spell, but the Colonel’s timing somehow couldn’t have been much worse.

It was subtle, but Alphonse could tell that his idiot brother was reaching his limits once again. He could tell from the moment he passed along the message that they might have another lead. Edward had burst into their hotel room immediately after getting off of the phone.

“Guess what, Al? We’re back in business!” he had exclaimed. “Mustang finally decided to stop giving us bullshit wastes of time- a State Alchemist just went missing from East City after he’d had some alchemic breakthroughs that Mustang says seemed fishy. They found his notes in his house and Mustang’s giving us the first crack at decoding them.” 

This small rant seemed to leave Edward oddly winded, and he sat down heavily on the hotel bed while awaiting Alphonse’s response. Alphonse was almost too excited by the prospect of a new lead to overlook this behavior. Almost.

“That’s so awesome!” Al responded. “Well, I guess not for the missing alchemist and all. But he might know something! Something big!”

“Exactly! So I figure if we go now, we can get the next train out and be in East City by midnight.” Edward grinned, but instead of jumping up to pack their suitcase or check the train schedule, he remained on the bed. Al took this time to study his brother’s face. The weeks of disappointing stagnation in their journey had clearly been taking their toll; Edward looked haggard and pale. 

“Do you want to wait until tomorrow to catch the train? We can just spend the night here.” Al suggested upon this consideration. 

Edward looked at Alphonse as if he had grown a second head. 

“Why in the hell would we wait? This lead is exactly what we’ve been needing! I’m not about to-” he trailed off to cough roughly into his elbow. “-waste any more time.” He continued as if nothing had happened. “Let’s go!”

With that, Edward swung himself off the bed, grabbed their suitcase, and turned towards the door. He gave Al no chance to put in another word. 

If Alphonse could have rolled his eyes, he would have. This was going to be interesting. 

 

\---

 

By the time the train reached Eastern Command, the sun had long set over the horizon, and the station was close to empty. The ride had mostly been spent in silence, as Edward had fallen asleep before the train even had the chance to leave. Alphonse was used to this scenario, of course, and had made his way through the first chapter of a book written in Xingese with significantly less help of his Xingese-Amestrian dictionary than it had required merely a month ago. Al knew that he would have no hope of holding up in any sort of conversation with a person from Xing, but learning how to read and write was at the very least a worthy project to occupy his lonely nights, and it kept his mind sharp. 

The train’s screech to a stop was just grating enough to wake Edward from what had not appeared to be a very comfortable sleep. 

“Did you have a nice rest, brother?” Alphonse asked, perfectly aware of the answer. 

Edward just stretched, cleared his throat loudly, and made a noise that likely meant something on the order of “shut the fuck up”. 

The rest of the night went by in the familiar blur that checking into the closest hotel to the train station had become for them. Edward barely seemed conscious enough to give his usual snarl when the hotel manager expressed their hesitation to book a hotel room for a child without his parents present, and he crawled into bed as soon as he’d had the chance to take off his boots. 

Such a quiet, subdued version of his brother was not a good sign, Al knew. It meant that he was in pain but was absolutely determined not to let it bother his little brother or hold them up. Seeing Edward like this always put a shiver down Alphonse’s metaphoric spine.

Al had barely had the chance to open up his dictionary to resume his self-taught translation attempts when he heard more rough coughs come from the bedroom. He couldn’t help but wince as he listened to his brother shifting in bed, seemingly in a struggle to become comfortable. It was a sound that Alphonse had spent all too much time listening to during the months of automail surgery, and he never did manage to find a way to make it less miserable for both of them. It was a vicious cycle; Edward no doubt was trying his best to be quiet and not disturb his brother, but that knowledge only served to disturb Alphonse even more. 

He tried, he really did, but after only a few hours of listening to what was clearly the beginnings of a horrible night of sleep, he did the only thing he ever could think to do in times like this: a long, long walk that felt too much like running away for his taste. He couldn’t help but yearn for Winry or Granny Pinako’s help.

In the end, Alphonse decided to deal with the matter the same way Edward did- silently. He made no verbal acknowledgement that he had heard anything in the night, but when his brother woke up the next morning, he found a bag of cough drops from the apothecary across the city on the table next to his bed. In turn, when Edward stumbled out of the room the next morning looking shaky and disheveled, he made no reference to having seen them. Instead, he flashed Alphonse a grateful smile, and gave his helmet a rough but affectionate pat- the very same he used to give his little brother back when he had a human body. He felt nothing physically, but inside it never failed to make him feel safe. 

“Let’s go, Al!” Edward said with a weary grin.


	2. Chapter Two

When the brothers reached Colonel Mustang’s office the first things Alphonse noticed was that all of the desks were filled with stacks of unfinished paperwork. He shuddered to think about how many of those files had something to do with the antics of the Fullmetal Alchemist. On a certain level, sure, he felt bad about all of the mayhem. On a level that was slightly more powerful at the moment, he was just glad that it had given Mustang the proper encouragement to take some time and find them something a little more...intellectually stimulating to work on. 

All of Mustang’s team brightened upon their entrance; they all had a certain look of desperation that implied a long week filled with more bureaucratic nonsense than should be allowed in a military base. An interruption was more than welcome; even Hawkeye perked up more than usual when she saw who had broken the work-induced silence. 

“Edward! Alphonse! I hadn’t expected to see you here so soon!” she exclaimed with a light smile. 

“Yeah, well, you might have noticed, but we haven’t exactly had a decent lead in a bit,” Edward commented, his eyes scanning the mounds of paperwork knowingly. His voice came out hoarser than he clearly liked, and he quietly cleared his throat.

“We got on the first train we could,” Alphonse clarified. “We really want to get started looking into this new information as soon as possible.” 

“Mustang better not be planning on making us wait here before clueing us in on his intel.” Edward said, referencing the fact that Mustang was currently nowhere to be seen. 

“Sorry to pass on bad news, but the Colonel’s in a meeting right now, Chief.” Havoc explained. 

“He’s scheduled to be done any minute now, however,” Hawkeye cut in, seeing that Edward was about to start seething. “Would you like to sit down until he gets back? You two are looking a bit tired.” 

Alphonse knew that Hawkeye was subtly referring to the fact that his brother looked like a brisk wind might knock him over, but it was still nice to hear himself mentioned as if he were able to look any particular way. Before Edward had a chance to take offense at the insinuation that he was anything other than fit to take on an army, Alphonse put on his brightest “I’m smiling right now, promise” voice and replied. “That would be great!” He sat down with a clank and looking to Edward, waiting. Edward seemed to deflate a bit with defeat, but he sat down. He had the pinched look of a person trying not to cough out loud, though the look was easily passed off as impatience.

Despite Lieutenant Hawkeye’s stern gaze meant to remind the group that they had work to return to, focus simply couldn’t be restored once Fury asked to hear about the latest tale of Elric brother-induced destruction. With the whole room’s attention on Edward and Alphonse’s only slightly embellished storytelling, Colonel Mustang was able to walk into the room without anyone- save the ever-vigilant Hawkeye- noticing. 

“I’d be careful how you go around telling that story, Fullmetal. The wrong people might start to think you’re trying to stir up trouble around here.” 

Upon hearing his commanding officer’s voice, Edward’s face went sour. Alphonse once again found himself yearning for eyes to roll. His brother could be so predictable. 

“Are you gonna stand there throwing around empty threats, or are you gonna just cut the bullshit and tell us what this assignment you have for us is? You know, the one we hauled ass across the country to hear about?” Edward snarled. 

“Well, you’re in a lovely mood, as usual.” Mustang quipped, unbothered by being spoken to in a manner that would have gotten anyone else demoted on a good day. “Why don’t you come into my office before you decide to cause any more of a grievance.” He gestured to to the massive workload surrounding his team.

“We’re really sorry about that,” Alphonse responded sweetly, feeling only marginally sorry. He may not be as impatient as Ed, but he, too, was dying to hear something they could work with. He and Edward both following Mustang into his office and shut the door behind them.

“Please, have a seat.”

“So, missing State Alchemist, huh?” Edward prompted.

“A missing State Alchemist is the short version, yes,” said the Colonel. “More specifically, Johann Hass, the Fortifying Alchemist.”

Mustang opened a file and picked out a photo, which he slid across his desk for Edward and Alphonse to see. Hass looked, in Alphonse’s opinion, more like a beefy football player than any type of intellectual, but who was he to judge a man on the basis of looks alone, after all? The man in the picture, aside from being very broad and muscular, was an average looking man with closely cropped light brown hair and what looked like permanent five o'clock shadow. 

“Hass’s speciality was reinforcing weapons to give them enough strength to completely crush any opponent’s. He had been working on enhancing the human strength through alchemy, last I heard. Which is why I thought you might be interested; he claims to have be working on perfecting the human form. For military purposes, of course, but it could have other applications. Just five days ago, he disappeared completely, and from the looks of it, there was some form of foul play involved.”

“What makes you say that?” Edward asked. 

“There was a pretty sizable hole left in the side of his house. His neighbors say it was some type of explosion, though it looks like the work of alchemy according to the alchemists we sent to look at the place. But despite the...not so subtle manner in which he left, Hass has somehow managed to very quietly fall out of our reach.”

“So what exactly do you want from us? Are you sending us off a some sort of search and rescue team, or what? Sounds like you don’t exactly know where to even start looking.” Edward bristled skeptically. 

“Quite the contrary, actually,” Mustang retorted. “All of his research materials were left behind, included all of his journals from the last few years, which is where you come in.”

“And you want us to go through and look for clues, then?” guessed Edward. 

“Exactly.”

“And his journals are all coded, I suppose?” Alphonse inquired. 

“Very. We’ve had some of our men look at them, but so far they’ve been stumped. I suggested that the task would require someone very knowledgeable in alchemy to understand, which is how I received clearance to release the journals to you two. Your main goal, naturally, is to aid in the military investigation, but if you find his work to be helpful, that’s just an added bonus.”

At the conclusion of this explanation, Mustang picked up a small stack of leather bound journals that were previously shielded from view by a massive stack of paperwork. He handed each brother a copy to scrutinize. “The code isn’t even written entirely in Amestrian, I’m afraid.” 

“Oh yeah, there’s some Xingese characters in here!” Alphonse exclaimed, pointing to a symbol he recognized. 

“Some Drachman ones, too.” Edward noted, flipping through pages. Where Alphonse had always been fascinated by the Xingese language, Edward had done his own exploring into Drachman texts. 

“Hey, Ed, this looks like the language that was in those books that were in Da-”

“Yeah, I know what you mean!” Edward cut him off. “So this guy’s even using some Xerxesian stuff, too? What a nerd.” 

“Isn’t Xerxesian a dead language? How would you even learn it?” Mustang asked, eyebrow raised.

“It’s not that dead. Half the alchemy books at home were at least partly written using some of the symbols,” Alphonse explained. 

“It looks like I guessed right that you’d be the ones for the job, then.” If Mustang was at all surprised by the utter nonchalance with which the brothers handled a task that required proficiency in multiple languages, he didn’t show it. Alphonse supposed that his initial surprise of finding that they had performed human transmutation before they had even reached secondary school had effectively made him immune to any further astonishment. 

“Don’t pat yourself on the back just yet, Colonel. It’s not like cracking codes is some kind of simple task you can dump on us and expect it to be done and on your desk tomorrow.” Edward said, his eyes still fixed upon the words in the journal. His words were harsh, but his face was already beginning to brighten with the newfound focus. For a moment, Alphonse forgot the anxiety of the night before, and began to let the excitement scare away all other thoughts and concerns. 

“We’ll do it as fast as we can, though!” he couldn’t help but throw in. “Thank you for giving us this opportunity.” 

“You know the drill, then. Do what you have to do, but report back to me what you find out about the Fortifying Alchemist’s whereabouts, got it?” Mustang never let it show if he was very emotionally invested in their goals, but Al liked to think he could catch a glimmer of hope in the man’s eyes in times like these. 

“Right,” Edward responded, his tone clipped. With a quick nod, Edward stood up and turned towards the door, completely ignoring the protocol in regards to asking a superior officer to be dismissed. Alphonse was somewhat startled by his abruptness, but he soon understood his brother’s reasons. Before he even reached the door, he stopped short for a moment to let out a harsh cough. He had been putting a great deal of energy into repressed it; Al could tell by its sheer force. Mustang’s head snapped in attention at the sound, startled. 

Edward tried to continue on his way before anyone could comment, and Alphonse felt himself almost hoping for his sake that Mustang would just let it go and save him the grief. 

“That’s a nasty cough, Fullmetal.”

No such luck. Alphonse could see Edward’s shoulders tense up in irritation. He expected some sort of angry retort, but as it turned out, Ed’s hatred of acknowledging even the slightest sign of weakness on his part overcame his disdain of Colonel Mustang’s general attitude. He didn’t even turn around to address the fact that anything had been said. 

“Come on, Al. Let’s get started,” he called behind him, his voice commanding but somehow small.

Alphonse looked towards Mustang, halfway expecting him to tell him to make his brother take it easy or see a doctor. The Colonel’s brow was furrowed with something that Al did recognize as a mild concern, but he remained silent. 

Alphonse knew that in his current body, he looked at least ten years older than his true age: fourteen. He knew that it was easy for people to forget that he was still a boy, even though he occasionally liked to be treated like one. Edward, on the other hand, looked even younger than fifteen, yet people in the military were so ready to treat him like an adult. And maybe he felt like an adult, anyhow, after all that they had been through. 

Alphonse knew this, but he still couldn’t help but wish they weren’t expected to stoically handle everything in some sort of manly silence. If he were being honest with himself, he had no idea how to deal with a sick brother. 

If he had possessed a face that he could use to convey emotion, he would have tried to give Mustang a pointed look. It would say  _ I’ll keep my eye on him.  _

And maybe it would- very, very slightly- say  _ I’m not sure what to do here.  _

Instead, he must settle for a creaky nod that he knows says nothing at all. He should be used to the disappointment after four years in this body, but it aches just the same. 


	3. Chapter 3

The moment they stepped out of Eastern Command, Edward turned in the direction of the library. As he walked, he held one of the journals open, already forming a plan. Alphonse was beginning to tire of Edward’s stoicism, and he wished that maybe his brother could just sit down and rest a second before jumping right into what was surely going to be a grueling process. It wasn’t for lack of motivation to begin their code-breaking; rather, it was because Alphonse seemed to be the only one remembering that Edward still had human needs. 

“Don’t you think you should get food before we start? You haven’t eaten yet today,” Alphonse said, his tone only slightly betraying his mounting exasperation. 

“I’ll get something later. Let’s just get started, okay? We’ve been waiting way too long for this,” Edward replied, avoiding eye contact with Alphonse. Edward, unlike anyone else, seemed to have the eerie ability to pick up on Alphonse’s emotions, armor mask for a face or otherwise. 

Alphonse sighed, but he reluctantly let Edward lead them towards the massive granite building that was the Eastern Command military library. If Edward wanted to ignore the fact that he still had the fortune of a human form, so be it, he figured. A nagging type of guilt began settling in the more Alphonse allowed himself to think about how Edward could so easily neglect himself in order to avoid slowing down his suit of armor of a brother. The only way to banish the guilt was to focus on the task at hand, he realized. 

“I can start with the Xingese, brother. I already have a dictionary, and I was meaning to find some basic texts to help me learn the symbols more thoroughly.” 

“Yeah, the best way to start is probably just figuring out how many different languages he took stuff from,” Edward responded. “Although, maybe we should look into this Hass guy. Getting some background on him might help us figure out what kind of code he’d go for.” 

“Did Colonel Mustang give access to all of his files?” 

“Nah, but I doubt that’s much of a problem.” Edward swung out his silver pocket watch as a means of explanation. 

Sure enough, the pocket watch granted them access to all they ever cared to know about Johann Hass and more. As it turned out, Hass used to be the youngest State Alchemist on record at twenty-two years old, before Edward came into the picture and made him look laughably old by comparison. He had been mostly doing his research into producing extremely durable body armor for soldiers to wear into war zones, but had reported to the military that he had decided to take a more biological approach to the matter of soldier strength merely two months before his disappearance. 

They discovered that Hass had learned alchemy in a very different way than they did; he had graduated from Central University with a degree in Alchemical Practice. He received his state certification only three weeks after obtaining his diploma. A copy of Hass’s transcript was included in his file, and it immediately became clear that the man had an intense interest in foreign language studies. In addition to classes such as “Basic Array Construction” and “Elemental Deconstruction”, he had also taken subjects like “Xerxes Before Ruin” and “Xing Through the Ages”. 

“Like I said, this guy’s a nerd,” Edward commented upon viewing this. “It doesn’t really help us, though. We already knew he likes Xingese, but there’s a least two other languages in here that I don’t recognize.” 

“I don’t recognize them either,” Alphonse said, defeated. 

“I have a hunch that the code is actually pretty basic. It’s probably just a translation game once we know all of the languages he’s using. If you look at each sentence, you can find patterns, see? It seems like the sentence structure always uses certain languages in certain places. If I had to guess, he’s using Drachman for the prepositions, because the only Drachman words that I can recognize in his writing are prepositions.” Edward circled three words in one of Hass’s journals and wrote out the words “in”, “with”, and “over” on a loose piece of notebook paper. 

Alphonse peered into another journal and tried to focus on the Xingese words. 

“You’re right! The Xingese words are all verbs!” he cried with excitement. He then immediately deflated a bit. “Xingese is known for having extremely complicated verb conjugations, though. I barely understand how it works, and I’ve been spending every night for the past four months trying to learn it.”

Edward growled in distress, which quickly turned into a cough. 

“This asshole really isn’t going to make it easy on us, is he?” he breathed out when he was done. 

“We’ll figure it out,” Alphonse said. He was trying to keep up an air of positivity, but he was slowly becoming concerned that his brother would burn out before they even had the chance to try.

\---

In the end, Alphonse’s prediction that they would figure it out was correct, though it took two days of combing through all of the international books that the library had to offer in order to find out which languages some of the symbols belonged to, and an additional day to painstakingly go through each sentence with an alternating variety of dictionaries and translate the meaning into Amestrian. 

In the end, Alphonse had to admit two things. First, Hass was a highly intelligent man, but more than anything he was just a complete asshole who relished in making things as unnecessarily complicated as possible. Secondly, his brother was more stubborn than any one person should be allowed to be. The little sleep Edward had allowed himself was mostly spent using a book as a pillow, and whenever Alphonse had dared suggest that he give it a rest and leave the translation up to his little brother who conveniently didn’t need sleep, he had given him a look of such betrayal that Alphonse felt like he’d been asking him to throw the journals in the fireplace and let them burn. 

Admittedly, the process went by twice as fast with Edward’s help, but it clearly had taken it’s toll. Before they had been given the assignment, Edward had certainly looked worn-out, but to the undiscerning eye, he was merely travel-worn as opposed to sick. After three days of sporadic sleep and a diet consisting mostly of coffee and dry toast, Edward looked downright ill. The sight of his brother shivering in the hard wooden library chair, gray and feverish, was enough to drain Alphonse of any excitement that he should have been feeling upon cracking the difficult code.

The code, once broken, didn’t yield any truly groundbreaking results. Hass’s journals mainly consisted of the same material that Mustang had included in his initial debriefing. The research began with a frankly dull focus on weaponry and it slowly progressed into something of an obsessive appraisal of human anatomy and its various weaknesses. While it did lay some intriguing groundwork that touched upon some theories that were relevant to transmuting human body parts, the work was incomplete and speculative at best. What it did include, however, was an actual lead: an address for Hass’s personal cabin on the outskirts of the city alongside the name of a research assistant that was not included in the military’s profile. Hass’s assistant, James Baldwin, was mentioned in almost every entry of the journal. It wasn’t much, but it was a place to start in their search for answers. 

Though it felt like they were grasping at straws, Edward was clearly attempting to put forth enough excitement to make up for Alphonse’s apparent lack of enthusiasm. 

“Hass thinks he’s so smart, but it must have taken that dumb fuck two hours to write each journal entry with his stupid code. And what good did it even for him? We cracked it, no sweat, and we’ll find this assistant of his and make him talk!”  

“Really, brother? No sweat? You haven’t slept more than an hour at a time in days,” Alphonse pointed out. 

Edward huffed at the accusation. “There’s no point in wasting time sleeping when we’re close to getting our hands on something useful.” 

Alphonse could read between the lines. There was no point in sleeping if Alphonse would be staying up working on the code without him.

He had never resented his body more.

“Well, the code’s broken now. Why don’t we get some food and then figure out what to do next?” Al suggested.

Edward visibly recoiled at the mention of food.

“This is pretty time-sensitive, don’t you think, Al? If we don’t act right now, we could miss our opportunity to actually find Hass? Or at least to find him alive.” 

This would have been a much more convincing argument had Edward not looked positively green. He shifted nervously, refusing to meet Alphonse’s gaze as if that would save him from his brother’s scrutiny. Of course, by this point Edward clearly wasn’t fooling anyone. 

Alphonse heaved out a frustrated sigh. He knew that there wasn’t much point in fighting Edward when he was so determined. Unsurprisingly, Edward didn’t give Alphonse any more chance to put in a word of reason before he unsteadily thrust himself out of his chair and began making his way out of the library. Al followed him slowly; his armor creaked in protest at the toll that neglecting his oiling routine had taken on the integrity of the metal. As he exited the library for the first time in days and let the early morning sun reflect off his slightly rusted form, he couldn’t help but think of how pathetic a pair he and his brother made at the moment. 

Once Edward reached the bottom of the library steps he paused for a moment, looking lost and frazzled. He had not actually formulated a game plan beyond this point. 

“We should probably stop by Mustang’s office to debrief him on cracking the code, right?” Alphonse asked meekly. He had to admit that he didn’t care at all about the military protocol one bit; rather, he was just hoping that one of the actual adults might step in and take the case off of Edward’s hands now that they’d done their part. There was no chance in hell that either of them were giving up on this potential lead, but it would at the very least give them a brief pause to regroup. 

Edward’s brow furrowed in exasperation at the suggestion. “And get bogged down by needless military bureaucracy?What’s the point? Mustang can get the update when…” he trailed off, a strange look of concern his face. 

“Brother?” Al questioned. 

Edward swallowed thickly, suddenly white as a sheet. “I...uh…” he stammered uselessly before staggering quickly off to a nearby alley. He promptly threw up behind a dumpster. 

Alphonse knelt down next to his big brother and held back his hair as he heaved weakly. In that moment, Al made up his mind on two things. First, he determined that his brother really was a complete, stubborn idiot. Second, he decided that no matter how much Edward pushed back against it, he was going to be the one taking the lead on this assignment for the first time since his brother had gained the title of the Fullmetal Alchemist. 


	4. Chapter Four

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Honestly just a short bit of necessary exposition.

After watching the rather sad sight of his brother heaving up a meager amount of toast and coffee, Alphonse couldn’t help but add vomiting to the short list he’d been accumulating of human things that he didn’t quite miss. He considered joking about this to lighten the mood, but upon looking down at Edward’s pained grimace, he decided to take a slightly different approach.

“That’s it, you’re done,” Al said sternly. “Let’s get you back to the hotel.” 

“Like hell we’re going back to the hotel,” Edward replied, spitting gracelessly onto the damp ground. “We’re in the middle of something. I’m fine, just pretend this didn’t happen, alright?” 

“I can’t believe you, brother! How am I supposed to just forget seeing that? For one thing, it was so gross! And second, can you even stand up right now?”

“Of course I can!” Edward shot back. 

He looked frighteningly unsure of his answer, however, as he was still shaking slightly from the earlier exertion.  Regardless, he planted a fist into the ground and haltingly pushed himself into a firm if slightly hunched standing position. It almost would have passed as sufficient had he not been forced to lean heavily upon Alphonse to remain upright.

“Okay, so you’re not making a compelling argument right now.” Alphonse said with great exasperation. He grabbed Edward’s arm to steady him, and carefully steered his woozy brother back to the steps of the library, where he deposited him for the time being. 

“Why can’t we just take a second to rest?” Alphonse pleaded.

“You know why, Al! You saw Hass’s journals, and you’ve gotta admit that what he was after looked way too much like human transmutation.” Ed responded.

“Yes, but he wasn’t bringing anyone back, was he? He just wanted to make soldiers stronger. You shouldn’t jump to any conclusions like that.”

“Yeah, but it doesn’t add up, does it? Why would a guy disappear if his research was so innocent? I have a bad feeling about this, and I’m not gonna wait until we lose our chance to find out what he did.” 

Alphonse signed. Maybe he’d been trying to deny it, but Edward was right. What they’d seen in Hass’s last few journals had become increasingly similar to the notes that they had taken only a few years ago as children. 

“So what do we do now, then? You think you’re actually up to this if it turns into a confrontation?” 

“I’ll have to be!” Edward said, running a desperate hand through his tangled hair. “The longer we wait on this, the more chance he has to do something really stupid, if he hasn’t already.” 

“Are you going to throw up again?

“What? No!”

Alphonse tilted his helmet slightly to the left. 

“Probably not. I think.” Edward revised. 

“Do you think you have a fever?” Al continued interrogating.

“How am I supposed to know?” 

“I don’t know! You look really sweaty. Is it hot outside right now?” 

In that moment, Alphonse felt a pang of sadness and frustration that he was at such a disconnect with the world. He had no true way of gauging if his brother was well enough to continue on in their search, and he certainly couldn’t trust Edward to be entirely candid either. 

“What does it even matter?” Edward asked, and as he tried and failed to stifle a another coughing spell, Alphonse couldn’t help but wonder how he could be so dense. 

“It matters because I want to make sure you aren’t going to slow me down. If you can’t do this, I’ll just take you back to the hotel and visit Hass on my own.”

“Nope. No way. You are absolutely not going without backup. The guy’s a weapons expert; he could be dangerous.” 

“And just exactly how useful a backup do you expect to be?” Alphonse challenged.

“Just..better than nothing!” Edward exclaimed. “You’re still my little brother, Al! You don’t have to keep trying to take care of me!” 

The reminder that he was still technically a kid was almost enough to break down Alphonse’s defense. The responsibility of both solving this strange mystery in time coupled with that of watching out for his brother’s safety felt like an impossible weight on his shoulders. However, Alphonse knew how to be just as stubborn as his brother when he needed to be.

“If I’m going to let you come, you at least have to promise to let me take the lead.” Alphonse said. “You just lay low and let me do all the talking. And all the fighting, if it comes to that.”

Edward’s apprehensive face betrayed the fact that he would have an extremely hard time letting that happen, but he seemed to be fully aware of Alphonse’s level of resolve. That, and he simply didn’t have the energy to argue any further. 

“Fine, let’s just go already. Happy?”

“Not really."

And with that, the two brothers hailed a cab to take them to the outskirts of the city towards Hass’s cabin, where hopefully they would find answers. 


	5. Chapter Five

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Well, I wrote this at 2 AM and didn't edit it in the slightest. Maybe I'll go back in and edit out some of the inevitable typos and redundancies, but mostly I just wanted to finally be done with this long-ass fic. 
> 
> I'm not sure it ended up where I thought it was going to, or if anyone will like it, but I just dumped out 3k words so yeah.

Getting a cab to travel outside of East City into the dark isolation of the city’s outskirts took a considerable amount of money, and considering the fact that Edward threw up once again in the backseat made it even more pricey. By the time the two brothers were standing in front of Hass’s modest home, morning had turned into afternoon. Gray storm clouds were beginning to gather in a way that Alphonse was trying not to interpret as ominous. As he watched the highly disgruntled but significantly more wealthy driver become a speck in the distance, it dawned on Al that he had not actually taken the time to come up with a decent plan. Typically, he would simply followed Edward’s lead, and Edward seemed to follow the guiding principle that the best laid plan is to not have one at all. If it were up to him, they’d likely be breaking down the door right now and flashing his State Alchemist pocket watch as if it were a get out of jail free card for misdemeanors and recklessness. Alphonse preferred to handle the situation with a bit more finesse, if possible. 

“So, what’s the plan, then?” Edward commented, as if reading Alphonse’s mind. Based on the hint of skepticism in his tone, Al feared that his brother had very little faith in his ability to take control over the situation. This underestimation was just irritating enough to give him a new energy and confidence. 

“Just trust me,” Alphonse replied. If he was being honest, his plan was to improvise. But Edward didn’t need to know that. 

They walked side by side to the front door, and Alphonse tried to assess just how much he should involve Edward in whatever might come. The time in the car had given him a brief moment of rest, but he was walking in an uncomfortable sort of shuffle that Alphonse hadn’t seen since the early days of automail rehabilitation; his metal body parts were clearly becoming a burden on his frame. As he gazed down at his brother, he began to form a hazy sort of strategy.

Alphonse knocked heavily, hoping that his suspicions about the occupants of the cabin would be correct. For a long while, there was no sign of movement within, but then Alphonse heard the slightest part of what sounded like muffled argument from inside, and then another sound he couldn’t quite make out. Another moment later, footsteps could be heard, and then the door creaked open. At the door was a frazzled yet admittedly handsome man who looked to be about Hass’s age, if not slightly younger. Though he seemed to be trying very hard to keep his composure, Al sensed a sort of desperation and perhaps... fear? 

“Can I help you?” the man asked, his tone clipped but still somewhat begrudgingly friendly. 

Alphonse took a chance. “Are you James Baldwin?” he asked. 

The man’s eyes widened. He was obviously not expecting the recognition from an admittedly odd looking combination of complete strangers. 

“Yes, that’s me. How do you know of me? Why have you come?” James Baldwin answered in a hurry. He glanced over his shoulder into the empty room behind him and looked as though he was only minutes away from slamming the door in their faces. 

Alphonse wanted to narrow his eyes in suspicion, but he was glad that his face betrayed no emotion. His plan might work after all. 

“I’m sorry to bother you, sir, but you’re my last hope!” Al exclaimed. He quickly peered down at Edward, who was looking dazed and lost, and tried to convey the message  _ don’t say anything and just go with this.  _ “My little brother here has consumption, you see, and he’s become very weak. The doctors have told my family that he’s not going to make it, but I heard rumors that you and Johann Hass have been working on a way to make people stronger! I just...I was hoping that you might be able to help. I’m desperate.”  

Alphonse looked back down at Edward and he could immediately tell that the “little brother” comment was going to land him in some hot water the moment he was back to normal condition. Beyond the anger, however, he could see understanding and even a small hint of pride. 

“I don’t think-” James began, before being cut off by a Edward, who was maintaining a look of pure innocence that Alphonse hadn’t seen since he was four years old. 

“Please, sir.” Edward begged, and he unleashed a truly painful round of coughs that Alphonse wished were fake. Still, the fact that Edward looked just about terminal was highly convenient to the element of surprise. 

Alphonse examined James Baldwin and saw just the reaction that he was banking on: pity.

“I doubt that I can provide the help that you desire, as unfortunately my colleague himself is unwell. But, please, do come in and sit. I can give you some tea.” he said. “Come out of the cold. It looks as though a storm is on the way.” 

Edward and Alphonse were soon sitting side by side on the small couch in one of the few rooms within the cabin as James put a kettle on the woodfire stove. 

“How exactly was it that you came to hear of me and Johann? How did you know to seek us here?”  James inquired, not quite meeting either of their eyes. 

Edward looked expectantly up towards Alphonse, and in that moment Al knew that if they blew this, it would be on him. He had to think quickly. 

“Well, Hass has been in the newspapers lately and the articles have been talking about his astounding research…and...our uncle lives nearby, so he told us he’s seen you around. It just seemed like fate that I would come to you for help, you know?” Al lied. 

Edward, to his credit, made no indication of how lame he may or may not have found that sob-story of an excuse. He coughed some more, however, as a form of distraction. Or maybe out of necessity, but Al liked to think he was just trying to do his part. 

“Well, I’m very sorry, but I can assure you that alchemy is not meant to be used on humans. You must be aware of the taboo?” James said. 

Alphonse worked hard not to wince.

“I don’t really know that much about alchemy. I just thought that you might let us talk to Hass...Johann, I mean. I was so sure that I read he was making huge progress with his work-”

“You need to go. Now.” James snapped. “You shouldn’t trifle with things you don’t understand.”

Something had clearly struck a nerve, but Alphonse was not even slightly ready to back down, even as James opened the door and beckoned for the brothers to return back into the wind and rain. His pity, as it would seem, only went so far. Alphonse stood up, ready to take a more Edward-like approach and demand to know what had become of Hass. 

“Al.” 

Edward’s voice was barely stronger than a whisper, and Alphonse had not been quite convinced that he was entirely coherent since they had entered the cabin, but he quickly realized that he was the one underestimating his brother now. Edward gave a slight nod towards the floor, and as he followed Edward’s eyes, he saw what his brother had seen during his uncharacteristic moment of silent reflection on the couch. Almost entirely hidden by a shabby rug was a patch of floor boards that looked twisted and out of place. They knew that look anywhere: transmutation marks. 

Within seconds, Edward had dropped his innocent act. 

“We know you’re hiding him,” he growled. He made a move to stand up, his intentions clearly to blast his way through the floor and begin the hunt. However, his legs didn’t quite support his weight as he tried to catapult himself off the couch. Had Alphonse not grabbed him by the shoulders and forced him back down, he may have done a rather non-intimidating faceplant. 

“I thought you said you’d let me handle this.” Alphonse hissed.  

“I did, but-”

“Who in the hell are you people?” James demanded, his composure gone. He looked somewhere between furious and terrified, but instead of making his way towards the door as if to run, he moved closer to the rug. He looked protective, Al thought. 

“We’re alchemists,” Alphonse stated simply. As he said that, Edward slumped off the couch and came into an awkward sitting position on the floor.  He gracelessly threw his hands together and transmuted the floorboards away to reveal a narrow stone staircase leading into a basement. 

All of the color drained from James’s face. 

“Stop! Leave him alone!” he screeched, and he disappeared down the stairs before Alphonse could make a move to stop him. Wordlessly, Alphonse made his way down into the darkness, Edward by his side. Instinctively, Alphonse steadied Edward on the stairs to make sure he didn’t fall. 

When they reached the bottom of the staircase, they found themselves in a dimly lit room that was clearly used for alchemic research. The walls were lined with bookshelves full of alchemy texts and notebooks, and on the floor was a large chalk transmutation circle. The only light in the space came from a dim light bulb underneath which a figure in a wheelchair sat. James Baldwin stood by the figure, whispering hurriedly. He hovered above the figure’s shoulders, almost as if embracing him. 

“I’m so sorry, but they tricked me and forced their way in! I don’t know who they are, and I don’t think they’re military. They say they’re alchemists and they wanted to speak to you!”

“It’s fine, James. Don’t worry.” the figure spoke. His voice was weaker that Edward’s; it seemed that just speaking was an immense strain, as he hunched even further into the wheelchair. 

Alphonse and Edward slowly creeped closer, and they were met with just the sight they had been looking for: Johann Hass.

However, Alphonse would never have recognized him had he not been expecting to see him. The burly giant of a man was gone, and in his place was little more than a skeleton wearing his face. It looked as though all of the muscle in his body had been stripped away forcefully, and Alphonse had to admit that it was a truly gruesome sight. 

“What the hell happened to you?” Edward exclaimed. 

“Edward,  don’t be so rude!” Alphonse cried, exasperated. “Don’t mind him. We just wanted to know why you disappeared. I wasn’t lying about that! We just wanted to hear about your research, and we worked hard to find you.” 

“Are...you military?” Hass wheezed.

“I’m not. Like I said, I’m just an alchemist.” Alphonse said quickly. He gave Edward no chance to pull out the Fullmetal Alchemist angle and turn things potentially hostile. “We just want to know why you disappeared.”

A harsh rattle came from Hass’s broken body, and Alphonse realized with a shudder that it was meant to be a laugh. 

“Isn’t it obvious? I...failed. My research...is pointless. What I sought… was not possible.” Hass gasped out. 

“Johann, save your energy. I can take care of them,” James said, worry dripping in his voice. 

“No. Let me...I deserve to...explain myself.” 

“You don’t owe these intruders anything!” James indignantly exclaimed.

“I might as well...owe up to my….mistakes. I wouldn’t want...these boys to attempt what I did.” Johann retorted. He craned his neck upwards with what looked like considerable effort in order to look Edward and Alphonse in the eye as he spoke. “Besides....given their interest in...my work...I fear that they know...all too well about the temptations...of transmuting the human form.”

The fact that this skeletal man seemed to have a better intuition about Alphonse’s situation than the majority of people he had met made him feel uncomfortable and exposed, yet somehow less threatened by him. 

“Thank you, sir,” Alphonse said.

“I suppose you must have...read my notes...if you knew to find me here? Then you’re well aware of the..work I was doing. I thought I could...turn myself into the perfect being. I worked for years on this circle, the runes, everything. I just wanted...to be stronger...but...my transmutation was…”

“A rebound,” Edward finished for him.

Hass nodded, and thus confirmed what both brothers had already know the second they laid eyes on the transmutation circle. 

“We just want to be left alone! This transmutation took everything that Johann had, and if the military knew what had happened, they’d strip him of his title and cast him aside despite everything he’s done for them!” James blurted out. 

He looked close to tears, and Alphonse could now see why. The man he so clearly adored had been reduced to nothing, and all they wanted was some solitude in this moment of weakness. Suddenly, Alphonse felt as though he was intruding on a very private moment. He looked at Edward and saw a reflection of the emotions he was silently feeling written on his face: pity, discomfort, and a complete lack of knowledge of where to go from there. That, and a great deal of crippling disappointment. While this particular lead had not lead them into a battle, it did nothing but leave them with the harsh reminder that alchemy can be cruel and unforgiving. In the end, Alphonse would have preferred the battle any day. 

Or maybe any day but that day, Alphonse thought, as a moment of relief washed over him at the realization that a fight need not sap out that last of Edward’s energy. He looked down and was not very surprised to see that Edward was leaning on his armor for support, and probably had been for the whole time in the basement without him noticing. 

“You have our word that we won’t tell anyone where you are,” Alphonse said. 

The look of reassurance and solace on both Johann and James’s faces made the sting of disappointment just a little less painful, if only for a moment. Alphonse hoped that Edward felt the same, and that he didn’t begrudge him for essentially pledging that he would betray his position of a Dog of the Military. 

“I’d leave this place if I were you, though.” Edward said. “There’s nothing but bad memories. Move on.” 

And with that, he turned his back on the two men and staggered back up the stairs and out of the cabin, Alphonse trailing closely behind. 

 

\---

 

Once outside, they were faced with the unfortunate facts that it was raining, they had no ride back to East City, and they were in the middle of nowhere. And to make matters worse, the trip had been all for nothing. 

“It’s probably a couple miles walk back to the nearest place with a payphone,” Alphonse observed glumly. 

Edward said nothing to this, but from the look on his face, Al could tell that disappointment coupled with illness had become more than he could bear. Their assignment might technically be over, but Alphonse wasn’t done taking the lead just yet. 

Edward wasn’t done with never accepting his limits either, however, and he tried heading off down the old dirt road in the direction of the distant lights of the city. He didn’t make it very far before he ended up bent over by a tree, dry heaving. 

Alphonse sighed. 

“Idiot,” he said fondly. With that, he knelt down and threw Edward piggyback over his shoulders.

“Al, stop it,” Edward tried to protest. 

“Just...shut up, brother.” 

And with that, they made their way back towards the city together.

 

\--

 

A benefit of Alphonse’s steel body was his ability to move fairly quickly, and before long they had reached decent enough civilization to find a payphone.  From there, they reluctantly called upon Colonel Mustang’s office to send a car for them. 

“It’s quicker than a cab and it’s free, too.” Alphonse had reasoned upon Edward’s inevitable protest. 

“I’m taking you to a doctor, brother. You sound horrible.” Alphonse said once they were situated in the car. 

“It’s fine, Al.” Edward responded flippantly. “I just need...a good night of sleep.” 

“Well, if you won’t go to a doctor, then let’s go to Eastern Command and report back to Mustang. If you’re so fine.” Alphonse said, feeling petty and also very much in need of adult reinforcement. 

“And tell him what, exactly? What happened to us not squealing about what we know?”

“We can just tell them we cracked the code but that it wasn’t useful. Look, oops, I accidentally spilled some oil on the address of the cabin. Guess we didn’t get any real leads from any of this.” 

Edward barked out a half laugh, half cough at that, and Alphonse felt almost reassured by this sign of good spirit. Almost.

The trip back to Eastern Command and to Mustang’s office felt like a century of travel to Alphonse, who more than anything just wanted this assignment to be officially over so he could attempt to forget all about it. When Hawkeye opened the door to the Colonel’s office, Alphonse felt like he’d never been so pleased to see her in his life. Particularly because she took one look at Edward and clearly didn’t like what she saw.

“Sit down.” she ordered without preamble. They sat down on the same spot on Mustang’s couch that they had occupied just days ago. 

“I assume you’re here to report back to the Colonel about your assignment?” she asked, not taking her watchful gaze off of Edward, who was visibly shivering. He nodded, not trusting his voice. “He’s out of the office at the moment, so why don’t you come back later?” 

Alphonse could read between the lines.  _ Why on earth did you even come here? Go home and rest.  _

Edward, as it seemed, could not read between the lines.

“Can’t the bastard just spare us one second so we can just be done with this?” Edward snapped before falling into the worst string of coughing that Alphonse had heard yet. When he was done, he was leaning weakly on Al’s cool armor, and Hawkeye had made her way across the room and placed a sturdy hand on his heaving shoulder. 

“Just give me your report and I’ll leave it on the Colonel’s desk for him to read tomorrow.”

Alphonse diligently handed over their code-breaking notes- the oil edition, of course. 

“Havoc, make sure this gets to the Colonel,” Riza called, and Havoc appeared in seconds to follow her order.

“I was just about to head home myself. I’ll give you a ride.” Hawkeye said. Alphonse glanced at the clock. It was only 4:15. 

If there was anyone in the world that Edward would never dare to argue with, it was Riza Hawkeye, and Alphonse was eternally grateful for that fact. Edward remained diligently silent until the moment that the three of them were on the road. At that point, the car was filled with the sound of faint snoring as he slept with his face buried in Alphonse’s armor. 

Within a few minutes, Riza parked her car outside of a building that Alphonse didn’t recognize. 

“Lieutenant, where-,”

“You boys are staying with me for tonight, and once his fever goes down, I expect you’ll be headed out on a train back to Resembool for a bit. Hurry, get him to the guest bedroom before he wakes up and causes us trouble.” 

Before turning to let them into the building, Hawkeye paused for a moment and placed her hand on Alphonse’s arm. 

“It’s going to be alright, Alphonse,” she said. 

In that moment, she was speaking down to him as though he were a human child. 

And for that brief moment, he felt like one again. 


End file.
